Nuclear Medicine Assignment Essay

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Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical imaging. Using small amounts of radioactive materials, doctors diagnose and determine the severity of various diseases, including cancer, heart problems, a number of endocrine and gastrointestinal diseases along with neurological disorders. “Because nuclear medicine procedures are able to pinpoint molecular activity within the body, they offer the potential to identify disease in its earliest stages as well as a patient’s immediate response to therapeutic interventions.” (Seidlin et. al., 2006, p. 8). Nuclear medicine is thus meaningful for diagnosing of the diseases. With the help of radiotracers doctors are able to obtain such images and information, which are not obtainable with the help of other methods. Nuclear Medicine Assignment Essay

Nuclear medicine is also involved into therapeutic procedures, small amounts of radioactive material could also be used to treat cancer and other medical conditions of the thyroid gland for example. “Radioimmunotherapy (RIT) is a personalized cancer treatment that combines radiation therapy with the targeting ability of immunotherapy, a treatment that mimics cellular activity in the body’s immune system.” (Seidlin et. al., 2006, p. 9).

There is also a number of risks, related to application of nuclear medicine. Taking into consideration that radiotracers are used for diagnosing procedures, there are radiation exposure risks for the patients. These risks are however very low in comparison to the potential benefits. Nuclear medicine is relative young, these procedures are used for not more than five decades, and this means that there is no information about long-term negative effects from these low doses of exposure. Allergic reactions could be traced after application of radiopharmaceuticals, but they are rare. Women should always inform about their potential or actual pregnancy and breastfeeding before starting the nuclear medicine procedures. Nuclear medicine procedures could be time consuming, as it might take even several days for the radiotracer to accumulate in the needed part of the body and several hours might be needed for imaging.Overall, nuclear medicine has a lot of advantages; still there are risks, related to the use of radiotracers. Nuclear Medicine Assignment Essay